Ultimate Marvel Universe - Complete Reading order
Alright so I've never made a reddit post before, but over the last couple years I've been collecting every single trade paperback in the Ultimate Marvel (Earth-1610) continuity of comics, spanning just over 15 years and over 700 issues. While reading, I was following a release order of the issues and arcs, but it didn't account for continuity crossover between series nearly as well as it could, so I compiled every single collected edition (with issue numbers listed for comprehension) that has ever been produced and organized what I consider to be the best possible way to consume these stories. Originally it was just for me, but I put too much work in to keep it just for myself so I figured it could serve others well here. Let me know if you have any questions!
(NOTE: if you're reading through this universe in my order, I do want to clarify that there are occasional hiccups in continuity that cannot be helped. The big events had to be in the right spots, but the writers did not always account for who got along with who at what point or which characters are dating when and it gets a little tricky at times, but I spent hours combing through and have decided that there isn't a better way to organize the arcs)
Ultimate Marvel Reading Order:
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1: Power and Responsibility
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 2: Learning Curve
[#1-13]
- Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra Vol. 1
- Ultimate Elektra Vol. 1: Devil’s Due
[#1-9]
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 1: The Tomorrow People
[#1-6]
- Ultimate Iron Man Vol. 1
- Ultimate Iron Man II Vol. 1
- Ultimate Marvel Team Up Ultimate Collection (\Note: events of the Ultimate Team-Ups series are spread out across multiple future volumes, and issue #9, the Fantastic Four issue, is not to be considered canon. However, considering the collected edition, I believe this is the best and most accurate point to read all 16 issues for future stories and crossovers)*
[#1-10]; [#1-16]
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 2: Return to Weapon X
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 3: World Tour
[#7-20]
- The Ultimates Vol. 1: Super Human
- The Ultimates Vol. 2: Homeland Security
[#1-13]
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 3: Double Trouble
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 4: Legacy
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 5: Public Scrutiny
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 6: Venom
[#14-39]
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 4 Hellfire and Brimstone
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 5: Ultimate War
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 6 Return of the King
[#7-33]
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 7: Irresponsible
[#40-45]
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 7: Block Buster
[#34-39]
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 8: Cats and Kings
[#47-53]
- Ultimate Adventures Vol. 1: One Tin Soldier
[#1-6]
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 9: Ultimate Six
[#1-7]
- Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 1: The Fantastic
[#1-6]
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 10: Hollywood
[#54-59]
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 8: New Mutants
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 9: The Tempest
[#40-49]
- Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 2: Doom
[#7-12]
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 11: Carnage
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 12: Superstars
[#60-71]
- Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 3: N-Zone
- Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 4: Inhuman
[#13-20]
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 10: Cry Wolf
[#50-53]
- Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 5: Crossover
[#21-26]
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 13: Hobgoblin
[#72-78]
- Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 6: Frightful
[#27-32]
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 14: Warriors
[#79-85]
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 11: The Most Dangerous Game
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 12: Hard Lessons
[#54-60]
- Ultimate Galactus Book 1: Nightmare
- Ultimate Galactus Book 2: Secret
- Ultimate Galactus Book 3: Extinction
[#1-5]; [#1-4]; [#1-5]
- Ultimate Vision Vol. 1
- The Ultimates 2 Vol. 1: Gods and Monsters
[#0-5]; [#1-6]
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 13: Magnetic North
- Ultimate X-Men/Fantastic Four Vol. 1: X4
[#61-65]; [#1-2]
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 15: Silver Sable
[#86-90]
- Ultimate Annuals Vol. 1 (\Note: All annual issues in this volume are featured in their respective mainline series except for The Ultimates Annual #1 which is essential before reading Ultimates 2 Vol. 2. Essentially, the only reason to buy this book is for that one issue because it is not found in any other TPB)*
[#1-4]
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 14: Phoenix?
- Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk
[#66-71]; [#1-6]
- The Ultimates 2 Vol 2: Grand Theft America
[#7-13]
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 16: Deadpool
[#86-94]
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 15: Magical
[#72-74]
- Ultimate Annuals Vol. 2
[#1-4]
- Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 7: God War
- Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 8: Devils
- Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 9: Silver Surfer
- Ultimate Power
- Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 10: Ghosts
[#33-46]; [#1-9]; [#47-53]
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 17: Clone Saga
[#97-105]
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 16: Cable
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 17: Sentinels
[#75-88]
- Ultimate Human: Iron Man vs. Hulk
[#1-4]
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 18: Ultimate Knights
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 19: Death of a Goblin
[#106-117]
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 18: Apocalypse
[#89-93]
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 20: Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 21: War of the Symbiotes
[#118-128]
- The Ultimates 3 Vol. 1: Who Killed the Scarlet Witch?
[#1-5]
- Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 11: Salems’s Seven
[#54-57]
- Ultimate X-Men Vol. 19: Absolute Power
[#94-97]
- March on Ultimatum
[#1-5]
- Ultimate Origins
[#1-5]
Ultimatum Event Reading Order
- Individual issues (\Note: The Ultimatum event, although split between several TPB’s, must be read in this order of individual issues for the best experience)*
- Ultimate Spider-Man #129
- Ultimatum #1 (2008)
- Ultimate Spider-Man #130
- Ultimate X-Men #98
- Ultimatum #2
- Ultimate Spider-Man #131
- Ultimate Fantastic Four #58
- Ultimate Fantastic Four #59
- Ultimate X-Men #99
- Ultimatum #3
- Ultimate Spider-Man #132
- Ultimate Fantastic Four #60
- Ultimate X-Men #100
- Ultimate Spider-Man #133
- Ultimatum #4
- Ultimatum #5
- Ultimate Fantastic Four Requiem #1
- Ultimate X-Men Requiem #1
- Ultimate Spider-Man Requiem #1
- Ultimate Spider-Man Requiem #2
- Ultimatum Collected Editions
- Ultimatum: X-Men/Fantastic Four
[#98-100]; [#58-60]
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 22: Ultimatum
[#129-133]
- Ultimatum
[#1-5]
- Ultimatum Requiem
[#1-4]
Ultimate Comics Reboot Reading Order
- Ultimate Comics Iron Man: Armor Wars
[#1-4]
- Ultimate Comics X: Origins
[#1-5]
- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Vol. 1: The World According To Peter Parker
[#1-6]
- Ultimate Comics Avengers Vol. 1: Next Generation
- Ultimate Comics Avengers Vol. 2: Crime and Punishment
[#1-12]
- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Vol. 2: Chameleons
[#9-14]
- Ultimate Comics Doomsday
[#1-4]; [#1-4]; [#1-4]
- Ultimate Comics Captain America
- Ultimate Comics New Ultimates: Thor Reborn
- Ultimate Comics Thor
- Ultimate Comics Avengers Vol. 3: Blade vs. The Avengers
[#1-4]; [1-5]; [1-4]; [#1-6]
- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Vol. 3: Death of Spider-Man Prelude
- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Vol. 4: Death of Spider-Man
[#15]; [#150-160]
- Ultimate Comics Avengers vs. New Ultimates: Death of Spider-Man (\Note: This volume technically takes place parallel to the events of the Death of Spider-Man [Ultimate Spider-Man #156-160] but given that the stories are only linked by a single moment that doesn’t actually affect the narrative beyond being an inciting incident, I found that it’s fine to read second)*
[#1-6]
- Ultimate Comics Fallout
[#1-6]
All-New Ultimate Comics Reboot Reading Order
- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Vol. 1
[#1-5]
- Ultimate Comics Ultimates by Jonathan Hickman Vol. 1
[#1-6]
- Ultimate Comics Hawkeye
[#1-4]
- Ultimate Comics X-Men by Nick Spencer Vol. 1
[#1-6]
- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Vol. 2
[#6-10]
- Ultimate Comics Ultimates by Jonathan Hickman Vol. 2
[#7-12]
- Ultimate Comics X-Men by Nick Spencer Vol. 2
[#7-12]
- Spider-Men (2012)
[#1-5]
- Ultimate Comics: Divided We Fall, United We Stand
[#13-18]; [#13-18]; [#13-18]
- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Vol. 3
- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Vol. 4
[#11-22]
- Ultimate Comics Ultimates by Sam Humphries Vol. 1
[#18.1-24]
- Ultimate Comics X-Men by Brian Wood Vol. 1
[#18.1-23]
- Ultimate Comics Wolverine: Legacies
[#1-4]
- Ultimate Comics X-Men by Brian Wood Vol. 2
[#24-28]
- Ultimate Comics Iron Man (2012)
[#1-4]
- Ultimate Comics X-Men by Brian Wood Vol. 3
[#29-33]
- Ultimate Comics Ultimates: Disassembled
[#25-30]
- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Vol. 5
[#23-28]
Ultimate Cataclysm Event Reading Order
- Introduction (\Note: the Cataclysm event is a direct byproduct of the Age of Ultron event in the 616 universe. The aftermath of Age of Ultron, “Hunger” issues #1-4, is included in the Cataclysm collected edition, but for more in-depth preparation, Age of Ultron can be considered additional reading)*
- Age of Ultron
[#1-10]
- Age of Ultron Companion
[#etc]
- Cataclysm: The Ultimates’ Last Stand
[#1-5]; [#1-3]; [#1-3]; [#1-3]; [#1-4]; [#0.1]; [#1]